Where Friuli and Poland meet

Understand Italian used in Il Principe: chapter II, part 2

This post completes your study of the Italian language as used in chapter 2 of Il Principe by Niccolò Machiavelli.

In the portion of text that you will consider here, Machiavelli says the rule of a hereditary prince is stable by virtue of its long-standingness, provided the prince does not make himself hated by his subjects through vice.

The first line of this portion of text reads: Noi abbiamo in Italia, per esempio, il Duca di Ferrara, il quale non ha retto agli assalti de’ Viniziani nell’84, nè a quelli di Papa Iulio nel 10 per altre cagioni che per essere antiquato in quel Dominio. From this first line, learn the following vocabulary: il dùca(duke),règgere a(to hold out against, to withstand),un àssalto(attack),viniziàno (Venetian; modern language uses veneziàno), il pàpa(pope),la cagióne(reason, cause),antiquàto (antiquated; here: established). You will recall that de’ is a truncated form of dei.

This line can be broken down as: Nói abbiàmo in Itàlia (we have in Italy), per esèmpio (for example), il Dùca di Ferràra (the Duke of Ferrara), il quàle non ha rètto àgli assàlti de’ Viniziàni nell’84 (who did not* hold out against the attacks of the Venetians in ’84+), né a quélli di Pàpa Iùlio nel 10 (nor those of Pope Julius in ’10¬) per àltre cagióni che per èssere antiquàto in quel Domìnio (for reasons other than by having been long established in his dominion).

*Here you have the Italian non… che construction, which translates to only in English. The wording non ha retto agli assalti che per essere antiquato means he held out against the attacks only by having been long established.
+1484
¬1510

The verb reggere is a good one to learn; its past participle is retto, pronounced rètto. Here are more examples of how reggere might be used in the same sense you find it in the text:

This line can be understood as follows: e se strasordinàrii vìzi non lo fànno odiàre (and if extraordinary vices do not make him hated), è ragionévole che naturalménte sìa ben volùto da’ suòi (it is reasonable that naturally he should be loved by his subjects).

This line breaks down as: e nell’antichità e continuazióne del domìnio (and in the antiquity and continuation of his dominion) sóno spènte le memòrie e le cagióni délle innovazióni (the memories and causes of innovations are extinguished); perché sèmpre ùna mutazióne (because one mutation always) làscia lo addentellàto per la edificazióne dell’àltra (leaves the toothing for the formation of another). In short, Machiavelli says that a prince’s subjects become accustomed to the status quo; the longer the rule of a prince, the more they forget the changes that have occurred under his rule.

addentellato

The Italian addentellato is an architectural term meaning toothing. This is an arrangement of bricks that protrude from the end of a wall, which allows for bonding into a subsequent continuation of the wall. These protruding bricks act as a link between the built wall and the wall to come. Machiavelli uses the term addentellato figuratively here, in the sense of link: one change leads (or links) into another, the same way the protruding bricks described above provide a link between the old and new wall.